Students, Staff, Faculty, Alumni and Friends,
I would like to welcome you to the new academic year and thank you for everything you are doing to support our community in these particularly demanding circumstances. We all share in the enthusiasm that accompanies every new fall semester, yet we are all anxious and concerned as we continue to navigate the ongoing public health crisis.
We are excited to offer a special welcome to all new faculty and staff, to the large and immensely talented new undergraduate class of 2025, and to our new master’s and doctoral students and postdocs. Our new faculty brings our total to a record-setting 634 members in our college.
As we embark on a new semester, please know the college is here to support you and I encourage you to visit OU Together for the most up-to-date announcements, resources and information to know about OU's COVID-19 response.
This is the first edition of the College of Arts and Sciences newsletter for the 2021-22 academic year. Through the years, our newsletter has provided timely updates on the achievements of our students, faculty and staff. Please join us in celebrating the excellence of our college in the stories of groundbreaking research, scholarship and creative activity, to innovations in the classroom and partnerships in the community.
I wish each of you the very best as you begin the semester, and I look forward to seeing the many things our wonderful college community will accomplish together. Welcome back and warmest wishes for a safe and productive semester.
Sincerely,
|
|
David Wrobel
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
|
|
OKLAHOMA VS. TEXAS RECEPTION TO BE HELD OCT. 8
College of Arts and Sciences Dean David Wrobel and University Libraries Dean Denise Stephens invite you to join our team at the Oklahoma vs. Texas Reception, set from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8, at the Omni Dallas Hotel (Southside 1), 555 S. Lamar St. Please respond by Oct. 1 at soonerconnect.com/OUinDallas or (405) 325-4303.
|
|
FACULTY AND DEPARTMENT NEWS |
|
WELCOME, NEW FACULTY MEMBERS
The college is pleased to welcome and congratulate our new faculty members who will join the university this year. We work hard to identify and recruit the most gifted scholars and teachers from around the country and across the world. Each one brings accomplishments to our university, and we look forward to their contributions to our community for many years to come. Please visit the college website to view a complete list of new faculty members.
|
|
MEET JAMES HOWARD HILL JR.
Among the new faculty members joining the college this semester is James Howard Hill Jr., who will be an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies. Hill comes to OU from Northwestern University, where he is an interdisciplinary doctoral candidate who is also pursuing a graduate certificate in African and African American Studies. Later this year, he will defend his dissertation, “Undeniable Blackness: Popular Culture, Religion, and the Michael Jackson Cacophony.” His research engages a wide range of critical paradigms from Black studies, sound studies and theology to popular culture, performance studies and the relationship between U.S. religious culture and media. By working within these discursive paradigms, his research primarily focuses on the relationship between religion, Black politics and popular culture in the post-civil-rights era. He is the author of several published and forthcoming articles and essays dealing with such topics as hip hop theopoetics, kneeling and Black athletic protests, Black politics and religion and religion in HBO's Watchmen. His public commentary on issues of race, popular music, sports, Black politics and religion have appeared in Black Agenda Report, The Syndicate, Urban Cusp and The Huffington Post among other outlets.
|
|
Carol Silva is the co-director of the National Institute for Risk and Resilience, the director of the Center for Risk and Crisis Management, and the Edith Kinney Gaylord Presidential Professor of Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences. She was selected as one of 19 national experts to serve on the Committee on the Future of NSF EPSCoR to help guide, engage and identify opportunities to increase the success of NSF EPSCoR projects. READ MORE
|
|
Scott E. Robinson (Bellmon Chair of Public Service and chair of the Department of Political Science) and Amy S. Goodin (director of OU Poll) received the 2020 Chet Newland Award for the best Viewpoint article in the Public Administration Review for their article titled "Connecting with New Partners in COVID-19 Response" – co-written with Norman Emergency Management officer David Grizzle. The COVID-19 crisis has called for the mobilization of diverse resources and coordination through administrative networks. This mobilization has brought to light the challenges involved in the recruiting and retention of diverse administrative networks. This article reviews the importance of and difficulties in maintaining diverse administrative networks. The lessons emphasize the role of active and imaginative recruitment and a realistic assessment of the challenges facing members of the network that can interfere with their participation.
|
|
Sam Perry, associate professor of sociology, and his co-author, Andrew Whitehead, published a public sociology article recently in Time magazine on the potential threat to democracy of Christian nationalism. Their article drew upon their theory and research laid out in their recent book, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States, as well as other recent events such as the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
|
|
STAFF SPOTLIGHT: MEET HEATHER TODD
In 2018, Heather Todd joined the college as executive director of operations. Todd has worked for OU since 2005 after joining the Office of Human Resources/Payroll and Employee Services, where she worked as an HR management professional for seven years. She transferred to the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication as the director of finance and administration in 2012 before joining our college in 2018.
What responsibilities does your current job entail?
I do a little bit of everything. I provide oversight college wide on financial, budgetary and administrative activity. I supervise seven full-time staff members and provide consultation and direction for academic chairs and directors on all operational matters. I work closely with the dean, associate deans and other university administrators and routinely work on college human resources, payroll and space management needs. I regularly consult with central administrative departments on policy, procedure and system changes.
What operational goals do you have for the college for the upcoming year and long term?
I want to promote a culture of sound resource stewardship and accountability by strengthening strategic financial planning and decision making and improve operations management through coordinated training programs and formalization of college policies and enhancing the organizational structure to promote employee engagement.
You were the 2020-21 recipient of the Jennifer L. Wise Good Stewardship Award, what does winning this award mean to you? What legacy would you like to leave behind to future award winners?
Receiving the Jennifer L. Wise Good Stewardship Award is a career goal and was a true honor after such a tumultuous year of leading during a pandemic and through three major university system implementations. I have been a member of the Provost’s Advisory Committee for Financial and Administrative Management for almost 10 years, and the award is given by the Provost’s Office. I joined when many of the original members were still at OU and learned from some of the best administrators the university has had. I share the historical knowledge and new direction in my leadership today with other PACFAM members and university employees. As a leader, it is my responsibility to uphold the legacy and traditions of those that came before me – but equally I must hold myself accountable to build upon those traditions to further strengthen the culture, human capital and brand of the university. I know I want my leadership legacy to be one that inspires not just leaders, but any person, to be kind, courageous and authentic.
What have been some of your proudest moments since joining the College of Arts and Sciences?
The last fiscal year brought about many changes from university systems to policy and procedure changes during a remote work period in a pandemic. Implementing one system change is a big ordeal but implementing three in one year was monumental. I was extremely proud of leading and training the college staff through these changes and seeing them as they began successfully navigating the new systems and helping each other. Several college VIPs recognized my dedication and wrote a letter for the Wise Award nomination.
You lead a group called the VIPs; can you explain what this group is and what your job entails?
The College of Arts and Sciences VIPs are key staff members in our academic departments, centers, institutes and dean’s office. It is my responsibility to communicate applicable information through this group, whether by email or in monthly meetings and provide training and professional development opportunities. Through this group, I continue to learn how to better serve others and genuinely support their career advancement and overall engagement at work. We discuss process improvements and better ways to serve our constituents. The successes of the college would not be possible without this team of valuable professionals.
As the chair-elect of OU’s Staff Senate, what initiatives are you excited to see take place in the future?
In spring 2021, the Norman campus OU Staff Senate voted to become one staff body rather than having four separate member groups in addition to the main staff senate. I am excited to be a part of implementing these changes to establish a stronger staff governance group. I also hope to see approval of the paid parental leave policy put forth to university administration this past spring. I look forward to working with central leadership to enhance the working environment for staff university wide. I have always believed that when you have a voice, you have an obligation to use that voice to empower others.
What do you enjoy most about working at OU? What hobbies do you enjoy outside of work?
I am a very proud OU alum and staff member. I truly enjoy the relationships I make campus wide. I love to help others further their careers. I also enjoy improving operations in the college and across the university by education and training of others. I enjoy gardening and spending time with family and our cats/dog on our four acres.
|
|
COLLEGE ADVANCEMENT TEAM WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS |
|
Please join the college in enthusiastically welcoming two new advancement team members to the OU College of Arts and Sciences family.
This summer, Marty Wold joined the OU Foundation as the executive director of advancement supporting the College of Arts and Sciences. Wold brings 15 years of experience in higher education, most recently at the University of Louisville, where he served as the executive director of development for the Schools of Dentistry, Nursing, and Public Health and Information Sciences.
Wold joins a college advancement team that has been anchored during the Executive Director transition in recent months by Cassie Jansing. We are sincerely grateful for her outstanding service since joining the college as director of advancement in March 2020.
Prior to Louisville, Wold also worked in fundraising at Kent State University and Baylor University. After four years in Ohio at Kent State, he moved to Texas, where he spent nearly a decade in a variety of roles at Baylor as the university grew its fundraising totals from $35 million per year to well over $100 million annually. Wold started his career in annual giving, where he managed all phone, mail and email solicitations for 140,000 living alumni. As a development officer, he worked with the schools of Business and Education, the division of student life, and covered the mid-west region of the United States. As executive director, Wold has led fundraising teams and worked with multiple college deans.
Between development stints at Baylor and the University of Louisville, Wold spent three years as the vice president of business development for an Austin, Texas-based tech startup focused on internet network design for high-density deployments in the student housing market. He then spent nearly two years as a higher education consultant for Franklin Covey, working with colleges and universities on organizational, professional and leadership development.
Wold holds a bachelor of science degree in education from Kent State University and a master of business administration degree from Baylor University, where he was a Beta Gamma Sigma honoree.
In addition, the college is excited to welcome Quin Moring as an advancement officer. He spent the last eight months working with the OU Foundation in a central fundraising role. Moring is a fourth generation OU graduate, third generation Norman High Tiger and a second generation OU Foundation employee. He graduated in 2018 with a BBA in Energy Management, but realized his passion lies with the campus he grew up on. He recently bought a house in Oklahoma City and lives with his seven-month-old furry roommate, Falco. In his free time, he enjoys learning Oklahoma history, trying out new restaurants with friends, anything and everything OU Football and pretending to be good at golf.
|
|
KALENDA EATON SELECTED AS DIRECTOR OF OKLAHOMA RESEARCH FOR BLACK HOMESTEADER PROJECT
A University of Oklahoma faculty member has been named as director of Oklahoma research for the National Park Service’s signature Black Homesteader Project, which recently received additional funding. Kalenda Eaton, an associate professor in the Clara Luper Department of African and African American Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, will lead a team of researchers, students and members of an advisory board focused solely on Oklahoma. She will guide data collection, archival and interpretive research, publications, digital scholarship and community affairs. The multi-year grant expanding the Black Homesteader Project marks a new collaboration between OU, the National Park Service and the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Working with OU, researchers will explore the lives of Black homesteaders in Oklahoma in the turn of the century, and examine connections between land ownership, citizenship and upward mobility for many who had recently been enslaved. READ MORE
|
|
RESEARCH COLLABORATION AND COMMUNITY BUILDING EVENT LED BY OU'S JING TAO
This summer Jing Tao, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Presidential Professor in the University of Oklahoma Department of Mathematics, used her National Science Foundation CAREER Grant to fund the first in-person meeting of the “Women in Groups, Geometry, and Dynamics Research Retreat,” which was held during the first week of August near Glacier National Park in Montana. READ MORE
|
|
USING QUANTUM-ENHANCED SENSING TO IMPROVE OIL, GAS LEAK DETECTION
Alberto Marino, an associate professor in the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, is the principal investigator for a research project using quantum-enhanced fiber sensing to try to detect oil and gas leaks before they become large enough to damage the environment. READ MORE
|
|
OU RESEARCH AIMS TO UNDERSTAND AND MITIGATE USER BIASES IN ONLINE INFORMATION SEARCHING
When searching for information online, the results can vary widely from person to person. Jiqun Liu, an assistant professor in the School of Library and Information Studies, wants to improve the quality of online search results that accounts for users’ biases and returns more balanced and useful results. Liu received a $175,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study users’ systematic biases, like previous search queries, to better understand the relationships between search interactions and users’ systematic biases, and to build bias-aware prediction models of search interactions. Using the results, Liu will then develop a scalable and potentially transformative approach to modeling users and their decision-making processes in interactive information retrieval. READ MORE
|
|
JITENDER MEHLA RECEIVES NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH GRANT TO COMBAT MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT BACTERIA
Antibiotic resistance is a global threat to human health that has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jitender Mehla, a research assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is exploring promising new strategies to combat multidrug resistance supported by a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases within the National Institutes of Health. READ MORE
|
|
Ian Carrillo, an assistant professor in the sociology department, published an article in the recent issue of Footnotes, the public magazine of the American Sociological Association. His article “Power and Race in Brazil’s Labor-Environment Nexus” is based on years of researching the Brazilian agribusiness sector. The article describes the wave of progressive labor and environmental regulations that empowered rural workers of color during the 1990s-2010s, and the subsequent reactionary backlash by white elites seeking to restore their diminished power and authority.
|
|
Robert Lewis-Swan, an assistant professor in the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, contributed to a study led by physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, published in Science. As described in a news release from NIST, the research team “linked together, or ‘entangled,’ the mechanical motion and electronic properties of a tiny blue crystal, giving it a quantum edge in measuring electric fields with record sensitivity that may enhance understanding of the universe.” READ MORE
|
|
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
TAKING CALCPLOT3D TO THE NEXT DIMENSION: CREATING 3D PRINTED LEARNING MATERIALS
This collaborative grant will expand the features of CalcPlot3D (a free, online platform used for teaching multivariable calculus) through the export of 3D printable models, experimentation with various print techniques and media, development and class-testing of learning activities using CalcPlot3D, creation of online tutorials to support faculty. Collaborators include Paul Seeburger, Monroe Community College (New York), and Shelby Stanhope, U.S. Air Force Academy
|
|
$1,551,062 — NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
DISES: OF MINKS & MEN: CULTURAL RESILIENCE AND SHIFTING BASELINES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN FUR TRADE
Today, international markets connect supply of and demand for millions of animal products across oceans and continents. The increasing interdependence of societies on the global movement of organisms and their derivatives has had significant negative consequences on biodiversity, ranging from species extinctions to invasions, which in turn impact the quality of ecosystem services provided to people. The economic pathways of our modern global biodiversity harvest practices were established during the 16th-19th centuries by the North American fur trade, offering a lesson in hindsight for understanding today’s complex coupled human-ecological systems. Historians have documented that European demand for beaver, muskrat, mink and other furbearing mammal pelts altered the lifeways of Indigneous North American peoples, and these practices likely represented a shift from thousands of years of traditional harvest practices. However, we know very little about the ecological effects of this massive harvest of key species, despite dramatic species declines likely shaping the structure and function of the North American landscapes around us today. This project will leverage interdisciplinary datasets to understand the evolutionary consequences of mass harvest events, ecosystem engineer declines, and the effects of differing cultural practices on furbearers from the east and west coasts. By design, the project’s methodology intentionally broadens participation of who contributes in the generation and application of these data to questions of interest for scientific researchers, policy-makers and local communities. This project integrates archaeological, historical and modern datasets and specimens to study populations of three furbearing mammal species (beaver, muskrat, mink) through time over the past several thousand years (Late Holocene to present). The researchers apply a diverse methodological toolkit and set of perspectives, including ancient DNA, stable isotope analysis, zooarchaeology, morphometrics and wildlife ecology. By comparing cultures and ecosystems in parallel across the continent (Oregon to Maine), researchers will assess how different cultural practices shaped species and ecological outcomes and how those environmental changes shaped future decisions, practices and social dynamics, collating snapshots of coupled socio-ecological landscapes moving through time to form a powerful multidimensional model of relevance to biodiversity conservation and traditional livelihoods. This model demonstrates how and why species recover, and what the signatures of recovery look like across different datasets that may not be typically aligned and jointly analyzed. Long-term datasets of resilience and recovery provide valuable and applicable lessons for mechanisms such as local furbearer management and the IUCN Green List.
|
|
$836,111 — NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
VISION AND CHANGE IN UNDERGRADUATE GENERAL EDUCATION BIOLOGY COURSES
Gordon Uno is leading a new national project to investigate what impact, if any, the 2009 AAAS document, Vision and Change, has had on general education biology courses and their instructors around the country. V&C was developed, through the efforts of hundreds of scientists and science educators, as a guide to teaching a contemporary course in biology---for students majoring in biology. Uno has organized a Steering Committee of faculty leaders from two-year and four-year colleges and universities to lead the project titled, the Improvement of General Education Life Science courses. During the three-year project, the team will develop two large-scale surveys and plan several major conferences for biologists and biology educators who are interested in the basic undergraduate biology course for non-majors. The goals of this national project are to develop a guide for instructors to revise their general education classes based on V&C and to create a model of professional development for them that will be used in regional centers across the United States. The ultimate goal is to improve the scientific literacy of the huge population of students who pass through introductory college-level biology courses each year, but who do not seek careers in science.
|
|
DOERTE BLUME – HOMER L. DODGE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY
$300,000 — NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
DYNAMICS OF MATTER AND LIGHT-MATTER SYSTEMS
While many everyday life experiences are governed by the laws of classical mechanics, important technological applications such as the laser pointer, rely on quantum effects. Describing the time dynamics of quantum systems with multiple degrees of freedom from first principles is a highly challenging task. Correspondingly, many aspects of the quantum dynamics remain elusive despite the fact that most processes in nature are time dependent. The project considers two dynamical quantum systems, a pure matter system and a matter-photon system. Understanding the dynamics of these quantum mechanical systems will not only significantly advance fundamental science questions but also open the door for the next generation of quantum devices that take advantage of quantum coherences and entanglement. The research effort will contribute to educating the next generation of technologically literate workforce.
|
|
David R. Martinez, Ph.D., was among a group of scientists at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health who developed a universal vaccine that protected mice not just against COVID-19, but also other group 2B coronaviruses — and it triggered the immune system to fight off a dangerous COVID variant. Martinez, who graduated from OU with a bachelor of science degree in microbiology in 2013, with distinction, was a lead author on the paper on the findings published in Science.
|
|
Marcus Macktima, a doctoral candidate in the OU history department, has received the Mellon Faculty Career Enhancement Fellowship ($40,000) from the American Indian College Fund for his dissertation work. Macktima's dissertation is tentatively titled “Issues of Forced Political Identities: The San Carlos Apache Peoples.” His dissertation adviser is Warren Metcalf. Macktima, who earned his bachelor of arts degree in history and master of arts degree in Native American studies at OU, is an adjunct faculty member with the San Carlos Apache College. |
|
OU alumnus Michael Gibson ( ‘72, B.A. in History, ‘75, J.D.) recently released a novel utilizing fictional accounts with historical details to explore the hardships of two female OU students and the mistreatment of ethnic groups in Oklahoma. Leaving Pontotoc County: The Odyssey of Two Young Women in World War II is the companion volume to The Broomcorn Field. Gibson's new historically accurate fiction novel sees large portions set at OU. VISIT MICHAEL GIBSON'S AUTHOR PAGE
|
|
Mathematics students Nathan Jones, Erin Hausmann and Joseph Randich have been awarded SMART (Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation) scholarships, which will fund tuition and stipends for up to three years. The program is funded through the U.S. Department of Defense to recruit individuals in STEM fields who can meet and solve critical defense technological challenges. For every year of degree funding, the scholar commits to working for a year with the DoD as a civilian employee. |
|
Sept. 27
Deadline to submit new graduate degree programs or graduate certificates (using State Regents forms) to the Dean’s office.
Sept. 28
Chairs and Directors meeting, 9 a.m.
Sept. 29
CASFAM Staff meeting, 9 a.m.
Oct. 1
Sabbatical leave reports from fall 2020 and spring 2021 (two semester sabbatical) or Spring 2021 only are due to the Dean’s office.
Oct. 4
Deadline to submit new undergraduate degree programs (effective Fall 2022) to the Dean’s office.
Oct. 8
College of Arts and Sciences Dean David Wrobel and University Libraries Dean Denise Stephens invite you to join our team at the Oklahoma vs. Texas Reception, set from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8, at the Omni Dallas Hotel (Southside 1), 555 S. Lamar St. Please respond by Oct. 1 at soonerconnect.com/OUinDallas or (405) 325-4303
Oct. 8
Deadline for academic units to submit nominations for college faculty teaching awards to the Dean's office.
Oct. 15
Deadline for academic units to submit nominations for university faculty and advising awards to the Dean's office.
Oct. 25
Deadline to submit graduate program modifications (using State Regents forms) to the Dean’s office.
Oct. 26
Chairs and Directors meeting, 9 a.m.
Oct. 27
CASFAM Staff meeting, 9 a.m.
Oct. 30 - Nov. 30
Deadline for academic units to email winter intersession course information to Renee Williams. For any proposals submitted after Oct. 30, applicants must agree not to cancel the course. Please visit the intersession website for more information.
|
|
If you have information or announcements for News & Updates, please submit to the College communication office.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
